Bangkok Day 2 – Shopping Day!!!

Day 2 – 24th September 2006 (Sunday):
Day 2 is shopping day!!! I had to put this day as shopping day because Chatuchak only opens on the weekend.

BEWARE extremely long post ahead.

Italian coffee and restaurant where we had our breakfast.

A beautiful artpiece at the restaurant.

Our breakfast consist of vegetarian fried rice (superb) and tea.

After brekkie, we begin our journey to Chatuchak Weekend Market by Skytrain from Asok to Mo Chit @ 40Baht per person. We arrived there at around 8.30am and my eyes started to dart here and there. Holy cow!!! There were hundreds and hundreds of stalls and thus giving me hundreds of reason to shop. I only managed to capture photos of food and art stalls mostly. I’ve forgotten to take pictures of clothes, shoes, beads, bags, silks, antiques, etc as I was busy browsing and bargaining.

As there are few thousand stalls in Chatuchak, we decided to shop around in groups of 3. The first thing that I bought there was a pair of slipper because my mom’s Clarks sandal were poking my poor toes. In total we spent 3.5hrs in Chatuchak and I didn’t even finish browsing every stalls. We walked quickly and only stop at the places that we want to buy stuffs. We bought magnets, tee for mom, beads and beading tools, scarf for us and Chester, additional pair of slipper, 2 tees for myself and sis, a bag and food stuffs. Not much right? That’s why I wanna go there again!!!!!!

Ohh and I’m not sure whether it’s because we were tourist or the price is already very cheap but I find bargaining at Chatuchak quite difficult. At most I only get 10-15% discount and some stalls don’t even wanna give us discount. Umphh maybe coz we only buy 1 or 2.

If you ever go to Chatuchak prepare to fight heat with water. I drank 2 bottles of water and 1 coconut water yet I still feel very dehydrated. I didn’t need to answer nature call from morning till afternoon. And I sweat like hell!

At 12pm, we proceed to our next shopping hunting ground… Siam Paragon. Actually it’s more like window shopping only la. Siam Paragon housed many designer labels and some labels are not even found in Malaysia. Have you ever seen a Jimmy Choo boutique in KL? There’s even a Playboy range of lingeries in Paragon shopping mall. Hehe.

We had our lunch at Siam Paragon food court. My first time tasting Pad Thai. Cost 65Baht (~RM6.50). The food is not bad… queer taste. Oh yeah to purchase food/drinks at most of the food courts in Bangkok, you need to purchase coupons. But you need not worry as the coupon is refundable if you don’t use ’em all.

After that we went to MBK. Along the way at the overhead bridge, we saw 2 soldiers stationed there. One of our friend, S took photo with them. Blek. I don’t know who that lady in the picture is ya. She just sat there and talk to them.

Traffic near MBK.

The fame MBK.

By afternoon, my legs felt like a wooden stools… leg pain la. We (sis and me) didn’t walk much in MBK. We tried on a few *cough cough* bras but x ngam. Along the way I bought 2 postcards @ 12Baht each.

While waiting for the gals and guys to finished shopping we hanged out at Swensen. We shared a cup of 3-flavour ice-cream… mango, banana and vanilla plus caramel topping @ 59Baht ONLY. Ohh lala. No service or govt tax… aiseh aiseh so worth it! The waitress even gave us 2 cups of sky juice without us asking. Don’t think we can get that kind of service in Malaysia. Also the outlook of Swensen in Bangkok is different from the one in Malaysia. Sorry, I don’t know how to explain. Hahaha

At around 5pm we regrouped and decided to go back to hostel for a 2 hours rest. On our way back to lrt station near the bottom of the MBK overhead bridge, we saw several army trucks and soldiers. What else did we do? We pose with them lo. We were among the first bravehearts to pose with them. Then many other tourists and Thais join in. Ahh I forgot to tell you guys, near our hostel cross junction, there are 2 soldiers stationed there as well with REAL GUNS.

Drama happened few steps away before we reach our hostel. One of the girls slipper’s string slit off. Who came to the rescue? Me! I loan her my mom’s Clarks sandal.

At 7pm we head out to Suan Lum Bazaar. This is the night version of Chatuchak. Although Suan Lum Bazaar is much cooler but I’m still sweating. Urghhhh. There’s a large Ferris wheel in the bazaar but we didn’t ride along as shopping is our main agenda here. We had our dinner at the food bazaar area. The place is rocking loud with live band. There are abundance of food available and I had chosen a bland crab fried rice @ 50Baht for dinner. Maybe I’ll post a very short video clip of one of the singing there in my next post (you guys will drool man!).

After dinner, it’s shopping time again! Again we go hunting in groups of 3. We bought postcards, bangles, key chains, purses and 2 additonal pairs of slipper (hahaha). Went back to hostel at 11pm and along the way we stopped by 7-11 again.

For me, the best place to shop in Bangkok is Chatuchak. CHATUCHAK RULES!!! YAY!!! Suan Lum Bazaar cannot compete with Chatuchak man. Reason… because Chatuchak products are more diversify. Of course if you ever come to Bangkok don’t leave Suan Lum Night Bazaar from your itinerary ya. Some items that are sold in Suan Lum cannot be found in Chatuchak and vice verse.

Ahh and always make shopping day as your last visit. Because you will most probably ran out of cash and have little travel money left for other activities. Eh and wear comfy shoe ya if not you’ll end up like me… buying 3 pairs of slipper!!!

To be continued…